Iacon Noir
by Charles RocketBoy
Summary: (Set in TMUK continuity) It's 2016. A murder has occured, and a politically-charged one at that. If Nightbeat doesn't crack the case soon, the Autobot's will lose their support from Star Saber and be doomed to extinction.


**IACON NOIR**

They were the dream... the Transformers, intelligent robots capable of changing shape into weaponry, vehicles and equipment. Two sides, Autobot and Decepticon, locked in eternal conflict. But the Quintesson invasion and subsequent Eugenesis War of 2012/13 has left Cybertron crippled, and only a few thousand Transformers still live. And now, in the year 2016, the Autobots face the threat of Cybertronian Empire general Star Saber, an ally from the "Generation 2" years, and his increasing dominance of Autobot High Command...

(Set in TMUK collective continuity- www.warwithoutend.com)

**IACON NOIR **By Charles Ellis

1.

He was trying to fight back. Pitiful.  
The chest was torn open forcibly, betraying the fuel pump within. A tingle of excitement passed down it, and then it lunged. Rip. Fuel spurted out over it and it eagerly gulped down the discharge, letting all that missed its mouth stain the metal ground and the golden chassis of the victim.  
Finished. Quickly it ran off, leaving the corpse behind to be discovered later. It would serve as a message, a warning to them all.  
It was back.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
My name is Nightbeat. I'm the Autobot's premiere detective. Not that that means much most of the time. Does anyone have murder mysteries to be solved when the Decepticons are standing on our necks? So I don't often get to do my primary function as much as I'd like to, and when I do get to do it it's often a disturbing and confusing process. Sometimes I can't even get at the truth- New Cybertron, 1999; the Decoys mystery; both of those I technically solved, but I knew something bigger was going on behind the scenes, and I never found out what.  
The year is 2016, by the by. To everyone's surprise we survived the Quintesson invasion and Galvatron's immediate salvo afterwards. Unfortunately, we had to call for aid afterwards, and that aid came from Star Saber in return for a seat on our Council. Primus knows why he wants the seat- what does Cybertron offer that his little Imperial sector doesn't? An ego boost? A dumping ground for waste?  
Either way, thanks to him there's a lot of golden-hued Legion of New Cybertron members walking around these days, and it causes a hell of a political stink. No one objects to his drones repairing our cities, but he's trying to get 500 of his citizens made into Autobots. He assures us that his chosen ones aren't drones, that they still retain the required Matrix Nanobots for the ability of morality, freethinking and the like. Still people don't like it, for many reasons, the big one being that it would give him greater control of the planet. Hell, five hundred newcomers would boost our population by around 40%!  
That's all background noise. In the rest of life, I've picked up an assistant called Fastform, my old buddy Siren still retains a seat on the Council and is a big important general, and I patrol the wrecked streets of Iacon. Armed, of course, because you never know whether a leftover Sharkticon might be lurking around the next corner.  
Then one day I get this call in my office. A murder. Not only that, but the murder of a LONC drone that was working construction. Siren called me about it, and underneath his words I could hear him saying plain and simple "solve this before Saber gets pissed".  
Not too hard a job, I thought. Then I actually saw the body.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Bloody Primus!" I put my arm over my face, protecting my chemical sensors from the stench of dried fuel. "Fastform, could you take some pictures of the wound?"  
"S-sure." The kid sounded nauseated. No surprise there, I was nauseated. His oblong green eye flashed slightly as it took pictures, and I bent down to have a closer look. Nothing substitutes for getting up close and personal.  
"You think it was a Sharkticon?"  
"No." I pointed to the jagged rip along the chest. "That does not fit a Sharkticon's bite radius. Wrong size completely. Also note here- the fuel pumps were slashed open, nothing else. Something was drinking the fuel, and Sharkticons don't do that, they devour the whole body." I smiled slightly. "You know, it is a bit weird that a wound like this killed the poor bastard. Them Imperial drones are strong when attacking, but they get killed far more easily than us regulars. Pity- if this were an Autobot, we could find out what did this."  
"Turbofox? Particularly vicious anti-Leaguer?"  
"A Turbofox doesn't have the strength for this. Maybe an anti-Leaguer. I think we can rule out Decepticon though, because this is too far past the border."  
"And if a 'Con could make it this far, he wouldn't waste time on drones," said Fastform.  
"Exactly. You're catching on, kid." I stood up. "Let's check the surrounding area."  
The surrounding area didn't take that long to check, because near the site was a large pothole leading down to the sewer network beneath the city. I'd thought so.  
"Kid, we're heading back."  
"Why?"  
"Because we need to get better equipment, and some bigger guns. We might be dealing with a Demon here. Unlikely, but it bears checking out-" I turned to leave and let out a groan. There was Star Saber walking towards me, Siren hurrying after him. "Kid, don't make direct eye contact. And don't touch him, you don't know where he's been."  
"Nightbeat!" snarled Star Saber, his sword in a scabbard at his hip in order to look threatening. "Well? What have you found out?"  
"That someone killed him."  
"I'm well aware of that!"  
"Star Saber," said Siren, "you shouldn't be bothering the detectives on the job. We don't want them to-"  
"One of my men has been murdered," he hissed, focusing his full wrath on Siren. "I want assurance that the killer will be found and that this won't happen again. If there's a being on your side of the planet killing my citizens and you aren't doing anything to stop him, then I will have to seriously reconsider my interests in this planet."  
Siren remained impassive. "Understood." I don't know how he did it.  
Then His Nibs spun round to me. "I remember New Cybertron, 1999. This time, I want you to find the culprit before he causes events that lead to mass destruction. Understood?"  
"Yes." It occurred to me that Star Saber has a really punchable face.  
"Good." And he transformed and flew off. Siren and Fastform were considerably rattled.  
"Nightbeat, I truly hope you solve this quickly," Siren muttered.  
"Oh come on, you don't believe the guy do you? He's just going to use this and his little threat to gain more political clout on this planet. Don't let him-"  
"Nightbeat, if he does pull out all his men and investments, then the Decepticons would take us down in little over a week! We have no choice but to bend backwards for him, so I'd like it if you find the killer before we have to!"  
Damn. I did not need this on my head.  
"Look, I'll get it done," I promised. "No worries." I turned to Fastform. "Come on, let's get that equipment."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
The Empties were a dying breed on Cybertron, these days. As little as fourteen remained, hiding in the corners of the Dead End with red paint, plasma burns and dents serving as a reminder of all that they'd been through.  
Few even knew the Empties even still existed, so there was no one to care when it came and fed on one.  
It wasn't the best of fuel, but it would do.

2.

The world was reduced to neon-green valleys and peaks that stretched as far as the optic could see. A brief concentration and I could see it in 4D- a variety of angles and distances, allowing me to match and compare at fast operating speeds.  
"Disconnect."  
Tiny little cables disconnected from my optics and I pulled my head from the bulky little Seismo Reader. The green landscape of valleys turned back into the grimy floor of the sewer system.  
"Checked, and there is no sign that something the mass and pressure of a Demon came walking by."  
Fastform leapt down from the hole in the roof/floor/whatever, various little microscopes retracting into the pad on his arm. "Well, I found claw marks at the opening. Not big enough to be Demon marks though."  
"Claws marks? Really?" I thought for a minute and groaned. "Not a slagging Mutie. Anything but that."  
Fastform just shrugged and looked away.  
Oh, you don't know what a Mutie is? Let me explain. Go back to Nebulos, 1986, and the creation of the binary bonding/transgenic splicing process. Quite a few Transformers ending up becoming 'Masters for various reasons, and some of them unconsciously rejected the mind-meld between 'bot and organic. They became disfigured on a molecular level, and became ostracised as "Muties". Poor little bastards ended up wandering off into the remote areas of Cybertron- Dead End, the Acid Wastes, the sewer systems & Underworld. There's always been the unconscious fear that one of 'em might come back and kill 'normal' Transformers, and you will often hear rumours of them doing so.  
I really hope it isn't an actual Mutie. If it is, we could face a witch-hunt on our hands. Any Transformer with a Nebulan partner or who once had a Nebulan partner could be attacked. Muties would be hunt down and beaten to death.  
"Kid, go back up top. I've got some work to do."  
"What?!" Fastform had his arms folded and was fixing me with that Look, the one that dares me to call him incompetent and inexperienced. "Nightbeat, sir, I can handle myself down here, I can fire a gun if I need to, I don't get in the way-"  
I cut him off. "A), we don't know what's down here and if we both get cut down, no-one will be able to tell the recovery teams where to go. B), one of us needs to be around in case of another murder or in case Mr Greatest Swordsman In The Imperial Backwaters decides he's not happy and wants more info. I'm not doing this to slight you kid, I'm doing this because it makes logical sense."  
I could tell he wasn't very happy, but he obeyed. Now, I wasn't sure if he was actually obeying me or pretending to & would come back down on his own later anyway like I would've. Hopefully the former- he's not as stupid as young me was.  
Checking my gun was fully loaded, I headed off into the dank and the dark.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
I came down here once before. It was soon after I'd taken up the detective job. It was at the height of the Morphcore Murders- four were already dead, and another three would follow. An Autobot had gone missing near the sewers, and I thought that if I could find him, maybe I'd be able to uncover more info on the killer, get some major recognition, all that stuff.  
I got lost. In my hot-headed youthful stupidity, I hadn't taken any sort of map or any way of finding my way around, so I spent three days wandering around in this dark pit, listening to the gentle flow of the sewage, hearing noises behind me and being afraid that if I turned round to look the Morphcore Murderer would be there and then…  
Nowadays I carry a map inside my processor of most of Cybertron, including the maze of sewer systems and parts of the Underworld. I don't screw up the same way twice.  
There were fuel stains on the floor. Recently caused. Only a few isolated spots, nothing to show any path. Seems the murderer was clever enough to clean himself off.  
I leant against the wall and reached for my trusty vial of High Grade. Didn't look like I was going to-  
Movement. Behind me.  
"I'm warning you buddy, I've got an armour-piercing hand held rifle here and you try ANYTHING funny I'll blast you a few extra dozen exhaust ports!"  
Turning round, I immediately felt rather stupid. It was a Mutie, and a particularly scared & weak one at that.  
"Ah. Sorry. Though while I'm here, I'd like to ask you a few questions…"  
Good Primus, I could see tiny little arms growing out of its chest. They were moving. This had been a Powermaster once, and it had…  
"W't y' w'nt?"  
"There's been a murder up top. Something came up from here and did it, and it looks like it was one of you guys. Now, if you know anything about this, it would be in your best interests to tell me so I can nail the slagger before it strikes again. Because if more people die, there'll be a lot of scared and angry Autobots, and if they then find out a Mutie may have done it… You fill in the blanks."  
It glared at me sullenly. "N't 'n' 'f 's." Not one of us.  
"Then what?"  
It took me a while to get what he was saying but eventually I grasped it. It had been a very slender Transformer, with no obvious deformities. But it had something odd about it. It had claws, and vast teeth. Like some form of animal.  
Primus no. Not him. Anything but that…  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
"You're back then?" said Fastform, flipping through feedsites. "You find anything?"  
I nodded and went to my own computer. I had to check before jumping to conclusions; any murderous Transformer with a physical description similar to the one I'd heard was checked up in the Autobase databanks.  
There were three names. Only one fitted the MO.  
"Bomb-burst?!" The kid turned to me, confused. "But he's dead!"  
I chuckled humourlessly and turned to him. "But what is death to a Transformer?" 

3. 

"I have received news of a second murder," said Star Saber. He leaned against the far wall instead of sitting, fixing the rest of High Command with a steely glare. "Another one of my workers. Naturally, this concerns me."  
"We're doing everything possible to find the killer," said Siren. "This is a breach of security, and we-"  
"Come on! We both know that this is not a Decepticon! This came from inside the Autobot territories! Breach of security nothing- this is a murder by one of your own! If this continue, I will have to seriously reconsider my plans, for I will not have Legion citizens be placed with those who would harm them."  
Rodimus glanced over at Prowl, who was remaining impassive. He wished he could manage that. "Liege Centuro Star Saber, rest assured that the majority of the Autobots are peaceful and tolerant towards newcomers, and that the acts of a vicious minority do not reflect the attitudes of our race as a whole."  
Star Saber removed a recording device from a waist compartment, turned it on and placed it on the table.  
"[CLICK] The Imperial guys? No, I don't trust them. They worked for the Empire, for Primus sake! They're all a bunch of murderers [CLICK] The LONC gits? Huh! They're just waiting for us to let our guard down, then they'll shoot us in the back [CLICK] The Legion immigrants? There's just too many of them, in my opinion. We should not [CLICK] The Legion? Lemme tell you what I-"  
"That's enough," said Prowl sternly. Star Saber duly turned the recorder off. "This does not change the fact that the vast majority of Autobots are unlikely to murder your citizens."  
"Me wonder," said Grimlock, his feet on the High Command table. "Lots of quick cuts between 'bots in recording. Cut off mid sentence. Tell me, what they say before you cut them off?"  
"What are you inferring?" asked Springer.  
"Well, me wonder if so many no trust Legion immigrants coz of Saber."  
"That's out of line."  
"It truth. Me hang 'round with grunts. Me know what they think about."  
"So you are telling me that I am not welcome on this planet?" asked Star Saber, his temper rising. "This is very rich coming from the same High Command that was begging me to come after that lovely little incident in December 2013-"  
"We are grateful for the aid you gave us after Galvatron's attack," said Rodimus. "However, the fact remains that many Autobots are worried about dealing with you and you are not doing enough to put these fears to rest."  
"Helping to repair your planet is not enough? Even when you murder my workers? I assist Cybertron out of my own altruism…"  
(Prowl shot Grimlock a warning look.)  
"…and I get nothing in return, not even gratitude. I will state again, if these murders continue, I will have to reconsider my plans."  
The threat of him, his drones, his resources, his money flying away from the planet hung in the air like a axe, waiting to come down upon them. Prowl opened a secret communication channel with Rodimus, pointing out that Saber was unlikely to pull out altogether but that he could pull out enough to make life very difficult for them all. He was also using this crisis to try and bully High Command around. Luckily, Prowl had a plan; Rodimus agreed to it and opened his mouth.  
"Star Saber, you are indeed correct. You do deserve more for your work here. Unfortunately, we can't offer that much at this point in return; all we can do is ask you to invest in our rebuilding process and promise results later. But to show you our commitment, we will approve of your motion to bring over 500 Legion citizens of suitable Matrix Nanobot build-up to Cybertron and undergo the Rite of Autobrand."  
Prowl waited until he could see the smugness in Star Saber's eyes and, hiding his glee, said: "Wait Rodimus! If we accept this large an amount of newcomers, we will cause concern among the current Autobots that we're becoming a Legion province; we could also be seen as elitist by the wider galaxy, and any potential dealings with former Imperials would be soured."  
"Oh come on!" yelled Springer. "Prowl, just because you have had bad dealings with Star Saber in the past, you have no right to dismiss this out of hand. How can we say that the Autobots are a forgiving and peaceful race if we act snobbish at the idea of non-Autobots wanting to join us?"  
Rodimus held up his hand for silence, and paused briefly. "You are correct, both of you. A compromise is therefore needed. We will take in the previously stated Legion numbers, but we shall also take in another 500 former Imperials that wish to defect from their old factions to us; this runs to Star Formers, Destrons, Dominators, Junkions, Cyberformers and the smaller groups-"  
"Destrons, Dominators and Cyberformers?! We've been fighting with them since 1994! How will it look, us turning round and letting the enemy move in?"  
"Didn't you want us to look like a forgiving and peaceful race?" asked Mirage sardonically, speaking for the first time. "Besides, we've fought with the Legion before too, unless I hallucinated the Tyroxian Front Campaign."  
"I take issue at the inclusion of Destron defectors," said Star Saber. "There would be civil unrest caused by fighting between my citizens and the Destrons."  
"Oh?" said Rodimus, raising an optic. "Are you saying that your nominees for Autobrand would be uncontrollable?"  
"Of course not, but millions of years of hatred and warfare can't be forgotten in a few days."  
"I imagine if they got together over a drink, they'd get on well once you give them a mutual insignia."  
"We should take a vote on this," said Siren. "Another meeting in a weeks time, to vote on the action described here?"  
"Agreed."  
"Agreed."  
"Agreed."  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
"Of course, this does mean you get credit for my idea."  
Rodimus grinned. "Hey, I'm the Chosen One. What're ya going to do?"  
"Ha ha. He did have a point about the Destrons though."  
"That could work in our favour. If his nominees start conflicts, it would undermine him. And if they actually get on well with the Destrons, then it undermines him, Deathsaurus and everything in their systems of government that rely on racism. Either way, we win."  
"I'm surprised Springer spoke like that though," mused Prowl. "I was expecting Star Saber to say that, so you could do your 'compromise' bit."  
"You think they're allied?"  
"Maybe. Or maybe Springer's just changed a lot over the years. With all the drugs and chemicals he intakes these days… He's obviously changed from the angsty young Wrecker commander I remember."  
"If it is a political alliance, Star Saber may try to influence the other members of High Command. Some wouldn't listen, but in the case of, say, Perceptor…" Rodimus shook his head. "We need this vote to swing in our favour. If we get a deadlock, we'd have to revise the terms, and what d'ya bet it'd be redone in Star Saber's favour?"  
"And all because of two dead drones. He knows that we know he doesn't care about them, so why does he bother?"  
"Politics."  
"Bah."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"That was unexpected. But we can turn this to our favour. All we need to do is convince some of the other members that Rodimus' proposal needs adjustment…"  
"I'll do that," said Springer. "They might not listen to you."  
"Just make sure they don't realise the alliance too early. That would jeopardise both our advancements in High Command. And if you want greater power, then…"  
"I know, I know. Don't worry."  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
"This is Nightbeat, PI, for all your Maltese falcons, mutterings of rosebuds and searching for godly Maguffin needs…"  
"You do know there's been a second murder, don't you?" hissed Siren.  
"We're at the morgue now. Exact same set-up as before."  
"Any leads yet? Star Saber's making things very uncomfortable for us here."  
"Oh, we got a major lead. All points towards Bomb-burst. Seeing as he's dead, that I saw his mangled body in part of the mass funeral barges launched off to the sun post-Unicron and the fact that the murders are recent… We're dealing with a copycat killer."  
"Why would anyone want to copy Bomb-burst?"  
"Why would anyone want to be a general instead of my trusty sidekick?"  
Siren snorted. "I can think of a few reasons. See ya around."  
"Same." 

4. 

The Archives Centre still bears the scares from Eugen. They'd tried cleaning it up but I could see the faint laser-burns and bullet holes. Because of that, because of the memories the place brought up, most Autobots try to avoid going there. Course, with the destruction of Delphi at the end of 2013, we had no real choice- all data had to be stored here. So the place is pretty sad- the home of hundreds of ghosts, the dumping ground for stuff salvaged from Delphi's corpse.  
But the real sadness is the robot who runs the place.  
"We need data on Bomb-burst, and all active Autobots with sociopathic and overly violent tendencies."  
The Archivist flew off to the nearby terminal, transformed into his cassette configuration and inserted himself. The nearest public access terminal began to whirr as data was uploaded to it. Useful little feature he put in it, but I suppose he needed something to do to pass the time.  
"Why doesn't he have a humanoid configuration?" whispered Fastform.  
I fixed him with a glare. "Don't you know what happened to Raindance at Eugen?"  
"N-no, sir." The kid had realised he'd made a blunder. Good.  
"He and his partner Grandslam combined to form a humanoid mini-gestalt called Slamdance. During the occupation, he was forced to leave Grandslam behind to die. Since then, he has suffered from severe depression. You think he was always this silent or moody? I knew him, kid. This is why I don't like coming here. Because I know what he was like before all-" I stopped. The kid didn't deserve me going on at him. "Anyway. Back to the job at hand."  
"Yeah." He blurred over to the terminal and began pouring over data. His embarrassment kept him working fast, but I noted a lot of grimaces as he looked at some of the more… colourful exploits of Bomb-burst.  
Don't ask what those exploits where. I'll just say that the sick freak was doing his Dracula impression long before he joined the Decepticons, and if it hadn't been for the Vos/Tarn fracas he'd still be in Vos' maximum-security prison.  
"Good Primus! There's over fifty Autobots on the list you wanted!"  
"Yeah, I'm amazed it's that short too."  
"That's not what I- Never mind."  
It was dull and tedious work, but it had to be done. First we had to match the physical description of our killer to that of all the Autobots on the list. Once the list had been narrowed down (not by much, annoyingly), we had to check military archives and see which Autobots had watertight alibis.  
We ended up with a list of twelve. Now then, time to narrow the list down. See which one of them had looked up for data on Bomb-burst in the last few years.  
No matches. There goes that lead.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
After that, it was a matter of hitting the streets and trying to find something out by annoying people, asking stupid questions and talking to shady guys in bars. There were a few LONC drones hanging around in Maccadam's, ostracised onto one table in the far corner by the other clients (somehow Darkwing and Dreadwind had shown up there, despite Maccadam's now being inside Iacon after Galvatron's 2013 rampage. I have no idea how the two of them keep managing to get into Autobot territory, I really don't). Turns out the drones didn't have any mutual enemies, so I was back to the idea of a random killer or just an anti-Imperial fanatic. And once Fastform came back from spying on a few of the more violent anti-Imperials, I was down to just a random killer.  
I hate random killers. They make this job so hard. In my opinion, all crimes should be neat and logical.  
"Suggest you go home, kid. Seems like we're pretty much done."  
He nodded and left in his hover-car alt mode. Flashy, but as far as I'm concerned, you can't beat the feel of the ground on your tires.  
Fastform lives in Autobase, the one we built post-Eugen. I, however, live in one of the towers of Iacon, one I had specially reinforced and then set up to look like my ideal office. Siren even got me a replica of a 1940's Earth typewriter to put on my desk. Can't beat the classic iconography, I say.  
I also have a good lock on my office. See, coming in to find a stranger inside your office may look cool in film noirs, but I'd rather not have that happen to me in real life. So I come home to find a yellow Autobot waiting at my front door, his body tapering down to a thin, pointed waist and a stocky black helmet welded to his head.  
"And you are…?"  
"Gunrunner," he said, extending his hand. Warily, I shook it, noting how soft his voice was. "I heard you were the guy investigating the drone murders, and I have some infor-"  
"Let's hear it."  
He shrank slightly; definitely a nervous chappy. "I used to be part of a small squad. We had this one member, a Triple Changer and demolitions expert. Name of Ignite. I know he was interested in old serial killers, very interested. Knew a lot about them, their MOs, the like. He was… reassigned after I left the squad, due to killing a prisoner. He claimed that the 'Con had attacked him first, but…" Gunrunner shrugged. "I've met Ignite a few more times since then. He's deteriorated mentally, become more aggressive, and nobody's seen him for several days now. I don't want to suspect him, he was a friend, but…"  
"You checked his hab-unit?"  
"No. I'm leaving for a surveillance mission tonight anyway, so I didn't have time if I wanted to talk to you about it as well."  
"Hmmm. Right, I'll look into that. Thank you."  
And as soon as he'd gone, I went into my office and started doing background checks on his & Ignite's records, because it always pays to be careful.  
Gunrunner had been on a squad with him- in fact, it turned out he'd led the squad. Yes, he did indeed have a surveillance mission. Now, what was interesting was that it was his first mission in years. He'd originally been a Pretender Vehicle until near the start of this decade when he was diagnosed with severe self-esteem problems, hiding inside his Pretender shell all the time and creating a second, stronger personality when in it. His reliance on the shell was deemed dangerous and he underwent heavy psychiatric help to cure his addiction to it. Since then, he's been kept on not-so dangerous missions.  
Ignite- ah, there was a picture. Slim guy, with a lot of slots for various bombs, and no face design- just an optic visor and then blank metal. And a fiery paint scheme. How overdone. Anyway, Gunrunner's verdict on him checked out, and also I'd been right in assuming "reassigned" meant "kicked out of the army". I had his hab-unit number here too.  
I thought about calling the kid, but thought better of it. I didn't know what I was facing here, and I didn't want him dead.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
I should have realised the set-up was a bit too neat. But when I found Ignite's hab-unit in Autobase, I couldn't ignore that something stank about this.  
The stink of old spilled fuel, to be precise. Chem-sensors had picked it up as soon as I reached the door.  
I drew my gun, interfaced and depowered the door lock, and kicked it open. No pause to think. I couldn't think about what could be behind the door-  
"GOOD PRIMUS!"  
Ignite lay in a near-dry puddle of his own fuel. Three vicious gashes were across his gut, chest and the side of his head; his brain module hung out limply, damaged. The murderer had obviously wanted no chance that Ignite could be reactivated.  
So it was a random killer after all.  
Or was it? The door had been locked. He must have let the killer in, and the killer must have known the lock-code to close it afterwards. So it must have been someone he knew.  
There was a photo of his old squad lying on a table. Him, Gunrunner and five others.  
It was a lead. A Primus-blessed lead.  
Whoever 'Bomb-burst' was, their number was up.

5.

_"Here they are," said Ignite.  
He eagerly grabbed the claws and fastened them on, his optics gleaming with a fanatic light. _

_ "Hey, don't forget we're sharing them," Ignite told him, before he turned round and tore the Triple Changer's head open._

*********************************************************************

Grimlock's hab-unit.

"So do you know what Rodimus and Prowl are up to?" asked Siren. "They aren't telling me anything."  
"Nah," said Grimlock. "Me guess there political reason behind it. No tell me anything except when we have next meeting, me should act as obnoxious as possible whenever Saber talking to distract him. Fun plan!"

Siren frowned slightly. "Hang on, getting a personal call from Nightbeat here." He paused for a few seconds, then his optics widened and he headed for the door. "Grimlock! Where are Prowl and Rodimus now?"  
"In Roddy's office. Why?"

"We just received news on the murders! Important news!"

"An Autobot has been murdered?" Prowl frowned and cupped his chin in his hands. "OK, Siren, tell Nightbeat to keep this quiet. Star Saber mustn't know about this."  
"Why not?"  
"Because then he'll change his argument at the upcoming vote. But if we bring this up _at_ the vote, he won't have time to do that, his current argument will be void because you know it'll be all about how his drones are getting killed, and so we win."  
"I told Nightbeat already. Dunno if he can do it though. He has got an investigation to do."  
"Hmmmm, yes. Tell me," said Rodimus, "how is that going along?"  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Detective work goes very, very, very slowly. Y'see, before you can ask the questions, you have to do an teensy bit of background work on your questionees. So I'm off looking at Ignite's old squad, seeing where they are now, who's still alive. Blah blah blah. This is why I love assistants- gives me less work to do!  
Now, there was Gunrunner. But I can wait till he gets back from his mission to question him. Now, onto the five others and their official army records, and I have to groan at the amount of testosterone-inflicted weirdoes in there.

Highbeam, tracker and former Gobot squaddie. Smart guy, carried out his duty, killed quite a few in his time. Reassigned to Red Alert's security forces after the squad broke up. Nothing here, really.

Xpendabal, aerial combatant. Personality record seems like he's a Hot Rod type with added love of blowing up 'Cons. What an embarrassing name to have. He's dead, killed in Eugen, so I cut out any sniggers or smirks.

Jackknife, battlefield surgery. Now here is something interesting- originally a surgeon, gave himself a big tougher body so he could work in battlefields, then discovered he actually liked killing things. Hasn't seen action for a while. Doing a bit of murder to pass the time? Bears looking at.

Motormouth, back-up support and former Gobot squaddie. Yet another boaster cum brawler. Meh.

Sprocket. Oh my. This guy… this guy was not only one of Ignite's best friends, but a severe berserker on battle. Sure loved his firepower. And killing. Put team-mates at risk from 'friendly fire' several times, stated on record that he'd never retreat without smoking wreckage of Decepticons coating his Actionmaster combat vehicle. And he has a psych record.

This is depressing. Their combined records suggest to me that really, deep down, they wanted to be the Dinobots but they just lacked the skill. And they tried to act all tough and kill as many 'Cons as possible to compensate. No wonder Gunrunner became addicted to his shell and the power it gave him.

"OK kid," I called out. "It's time to start investigate these weirdoes! You got that lie-detector download working yet?"  
"Yes sir."  
"Good… Now, who do you say we should check out first?"  
"Oh, uh… Not Jackknife or Sprocket. If we go to the others first, we could get information on those two and then have an idea of what else we could ask."  
"Nice work," I said, flashing him a thumbs up. "Now let's go hit the mean streets of the Autobase hab-unit corridors…"

************************************************************************

Motormouth cringes a bit as he sees us, but lets us in. Wonder why he did that, because he's got the wrong build to be our suspect. Bears looking into. The kid's behind me, taking pictures of the room and the Gobot for later reference. 

"I'll cut to the chase. A Transformer by name of Ignite has been murdered, and he was part of your old squad. I was wondering if you knew any reason why someone would do him in?"  
"Murdered?! N-no, I don't. He didn't socialise enough to make any enemies."  
"Hmmm. How's the rest of the squad these days?"  
"You don't think one of _them_ did it, do you?!"  
"That's classified."  
The guy looked on the verge of hysterics. "You don't think I did it, do you?! I'm not a murderer! Now Jackknife, he could've done it. He was a freaking maniac."  
"Oh?"  
We don't get anything substantial from the guy, just a lot of badmouthing to get us off his back. 

We go to Highbeam's afterwards. This guy is a lot better- he's quiet, keeps his hab-unit tidy, polite. He lets us in without any fuss, and talks for quite a while. 

"It's rather ironic, Ignite dying like that," he says. "He always was into pre-war serial killings, always talked about them to us, even got Jackknife interested in them-" 

"Oh?" I tried not to let my voice give away too much. "You think he may have done it?"  
"No! He was a bit screwy, but…" Highbeam thought it over and sighed. "It's certainly possible. Hope I'm wrong though. Good luck on the case, Nightbeat- oh, speaking of which, how's the LONC drone killing investigation doing? Maybe the two are connected?"  
Wow, he's good. "Nah," I lied. "The murders were different. Call us if you can think of anything useful."  
"Will do."  
  


"I don't think we're getting very far." 

"Nonsense!" I said, slapping Fastform on the back. "We'll get this done."  
"No-one's given us much info on Sprocket though."  
"So we go to him. Personally, he's a better candidate for our Bomb-burst wannabe than Jackknife- he's got the right build. We'll act like we're suspicious of Jacky though, but keep coming back over the days to chip away at Sprocket until we get something. Oh, and we should check on Motormouth some more. I think he knows something, though I ain't sure if it's to do with the case or not."  
We reach Sprocket's hab-unit and he lets us in. His hab-unit is very… interesting. A big "Remember Autobase 2010!" poster on his wall, photos of the squad, various weapons of differing age & make… We have a nut, people. 

He doesn't take the news of the death well. Matter of fact, he grabs me and slams me into the wall. 

"How the slag can he be dead?!" he screams, slamming me again. "How did the Decepticons get him?! I fought in slagging battles waist-deep in robogore to keep the bloody 'Cons out, and you damn Security Force jerks let them come in and kill us!" 

"It wasn't a Decepticon. Not inside Autobase."  
"Not a-" He visibly deflated and dropped me, lurching over to his slab and collapsing onto it. "Dear Primus. First Xpendabal, now Ignite…"  
"I heard about Xpendabal. Died fighting the Quintesson. A noble end."  
Well, _I_ don't think it's a noble end. Death isn't noble. But I thought it may make Sprocket less miserable (and if he is the murderer, he's putting up a good show. Maybe schizophrenic?). Instead he glares at me. 

"Ha! Xpendable didn't die in combat. He was found two weeks after the attack on the Archives Centre, a big slagging hole in his chest and with bits missing. The Quints had _stolen bits from him_."  
"I didn't know that. I'm sorry."  
"Yeah, well. That's all in the past. You have any leads on who did this to Ignite?"  
"We believe so. Tell me, do you what was he doing over the past few weeks?"  
"Uh… he was building something, I think. Some little thing. Some clip-on accessory." 

"Hmmm. Thank you for your time." 

************************************************************************ 

We left Autobase at this point to go get some drinks. The kid looked rather fed up. 

"Something bothering you?" 

"This case. The squad. It's just depressing."  
"Hence we go for drinks. By the by, how did the lie-detector download fare against Sprocket."  
"Completely clean. It wasn't a put-on."  
"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place. He must have had friends other than the squad. Maybe ask at Maccadam's. And that Xpendabal… that bugs me. The Quints were gruesome slags, but why would they only steal a few bits? Doesn't fit. Half his body, yeah, but a few bits?"  
"Yeah, it is rather- hey." The kid pointed up ahead, confused. "Is that an Empty?"  
"Yeah. Two of 'em." Odd that, never seen Empties often in Iacon anymore. And two of them- wait. Both standing. One of them slumping slightly, the other slightly hunched and something bleeding from- "How's your gun?"  
"Armed. Why?"  
"Get ready to draw it." I was already unclipping my own. "Up there. I think it's the killer in action."  
We started to move faster. And the killer dropped the Empty, looked down at us, drew his gun and fired. 

The kid's chest exploded and he went down. 

"EXHAUST-SUCKER!" I dropped to the ground, whipped my gun out and fired back. 

Missed. Keep firing. 

A subtle ripping noise and the killer clutched his side. Firing a last shot at me, he ran. I glanced across at the kid, than ran- scavenging Turbofoxes be damned, I had to catch this bastard. 

"This is Nightbeat to Security Force Central! Have encountered drone killer near Ground Exit C of Autobase! My assistant is badly wounded and has slipped offline, medical attention needed! And get some back-up, you lazy gits!"  
I was angry. This would be why I ran round the corner blindly and almost had the killer tear my optics out. 

I saw a grey blur as claws came towards me and thrust up my arm- a hot pain shot up through it and fuel trickled down. The killer grunted and kicked me over; I scrambled back up only to find the killer disappearing over the roof of a building (goddamn boot-rockets). I fired off a shot but I didn't expect it to do any good. He'd gotten away. 

"Damn it." 

6. 

Fastform would live- the blast didn't hit any vital systems. Didn't matter. Someone had still shot at him, and that ticked me off. Now, a lesser Autobot would storm the streets of Iacon looking for the killer and it was a tempting idea, but that'd just get me killed. 

Nah, time to think and research. 

Let's look at the evidence. We know the killer is member of a former squad that included Gunrunner, Xpendable, Ignite, Highbeam, Jackknife, Sprocket and Motormouth. Ignite was murdered, Xpendable died in Eugen, Motormouth seems far too nervous to be completely innocent and Highbeam seems far too innocent to be _actually_ innocent. 

The killer also likes to imitate the not-so-sadly deceased vampire murderer Bomb-Burst, to the extent of using fake claws and a fang-mask to match the Pretender shell. Beyond that, seemingly no reason for the killings. Utterly random- except Ignite, who I'm thinking was killed because the killer could protect his identity better. Killer wasn't that smart though- led me right to the squad connection. 

Unless… maybe this is misdirection. Maybe Ignite knew people outside of the squad. Maybe the LONC drone's aren't being killed because they're simply easy targets, maybe there's another reason. The whole Bomb-Burst thing could just be a mask. 

I do a quick data search. And lo and behold- Ignite has been seen attending meetings of the group Legion Out!. (Yes, that exclamation mark is meant to be there. Sad, isn't it?) So maybe this really is a racist crime. The dead Empties could just be a diversionary- 

No, that's slag. Our little Bomb-Burst wasn't exactly calling attention to the Empty murders, and he seems far too fond of using the sewer systems. It's not like you need to use them to escape a crime scene in Iacon, it's hardly teeming with people these days. So this suggests he's really into the Bomb-Burst act, that's all just some random killing and I'm dumb enough to try and put meaning & order on it. 

Then there's Xpendable. Part of Sideswipe's team in the Archives Centre battle in Eugen, found dead nearby. Not much forensic stuff on him- just that he was wounded and select bits were missing from him. And that's suspect- there's far too few bits for the Quints to have done it. Is there a connection to the neo-Bomb-Burst here? 

I keep that in mind. Then I search through hours of surveillance footage, trying to see who was where when we found out about the murders. 

Now, this may sound quick to you, fembots and other bots, but this whole process took me two days and felt longer. And in between them, two more LONC drones were murdered, and Star Saber came over to scream at me personally. 

And then the answer came to me. 

And I'm not telling you what it is yet, because it'll ruin the narrative punch. 

********************************************************************* 

"This is how it stands," said Prowl. "Siren can be counted on to vote our way, though Siren's told Springer the opposite. Mirage and Grimlock will vote against Star Saber, but most likely against us too and call for no ex-Imperials to be made Autobots. As for Perceptor, I'm pretty certain he's in Saber's pocket like Springer is. And annoyingly, Ultra Magnus and Metroplex seemed unsure about which way they'd swing, so I don't know how they'll vote. Also, Strife's going to be coming to Cybertron specially to use his Honorary High Command status to cast a vote, and so far I've been unable to contact him. So that's three in our favour, three in Saber's, two possibly against both of us… so we have to get two others to vote our way to get a majority."  
"Gonna be close," agreed Rodimus. "But I think we can get Strife for sure."  
"That's assuming he's not put off by the idea of making Destron defectors Autobots. Incidentally, I still say we should leave them out."  
"So you've said, several hundred times." 

"That's because I want our resolution put through. And we've only got two days until the big vote."  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Back in the sewers. Hiding under the sewage, in fact, getting a visual feed from a mini-camera I planted on this object I dragged down with me and left at a sewer junction that I'm sure 'Bomb-Burst' has used before. With any luck, he'll come across it in soon before my fuel runs out or my olfactory dampeners finally give way.  
It's been eleven hours so far. Not the greatest time I ever spent. 

Movement. Scratching of metal on metal. 

Normally, he'd stalk right past this junction… but then he sees the object I left lying around, and I hear him hiss in fear. It's like a ghost rising up to meet him, and he slowly walks over to it, trapped by its presence. 

And the camera shows me Gunrunner, claws and mask attached, staring at his old Pretender Vehicle shell. 

I leap from the sewage, gun out and aiming. 

"You are _nicked_, buddy!"  
Gunrunner takes a step back before narrowing his optics and charging at me, claws reaching for me like the fingers of Death. 

His brain-module gets blown out, and that's the end of that. 

******************************************************************** 

Motormouth does not look happy to see me back again, but lets me in regardless. 

"Thought you'd like to know we found Ignite's killer- Gunrunner, who's also been killing quite a few other people. He's dead now too. Y'see, he tried to shift blame away from himself by pretending to give evidence to me, and he then went on that surveillance mission, where he'd never come back from and would leave enough evidence to suggest he was dead, thus leaving him free to play Bomb-Burst forever without anyone realising it was him. However, he just didn't reckon on his evidence-giving marking him as a suspect."  
"Oh."  
"Indeed. Took me a lot of research to find him out. And incidentally, that research led me to another conclusion- I'm arresting you for the murder of Xpendable."  
The Gobot moved fast, weapons oozing out of hidden compartments, but he was already in my gunsights and his legs were blasted out from under him. 

"And you could've gotten away with it," I snarled. "After all, it was Eugen- lots of deaths, lots of nasty and bizarre injuries. Nobody would have time to think about Xpendable's suspicious lack of certain parts, or wonder why you were found after the Archives Centre battle with injuries patched up with foreign parts. You sick bastard, if it hadn't been for you messing up and removing his innards he'd have lived! But all you thought about was repairing yourself so you could get away quicker. 

"I hope you rust in jail." 

********************************************************************* 

The big meeting. 

"It appears to me that this planet is hostile to my people's very existence," said Star Saber, his arms folded, his optics glaring at the assembled High Command. "Not only do they face racism from the Autobot populace, but this new act of Rodimus's will bring them to Cybertron only to surround them with hostile races like the Dominators and the Destrons. Hardly the best environment for them. In addition, there are the recent murders of LONC workers. This suggests to me that the LONC would be better off leaving Cybertron to its-" 

"Liege Centuro, the killer murdered an Autobot and several Empties," interrupted Prowl. "He has also been found and shot while trying to kill his apprehender. It appears he was acting out fantasies of being the Decepticon Bomb-Burst, in order to deal with his own insecurities and low self-esteem. It made him feel powerful and untouchable, and it appears he only attacked your drones because they were easy targets. Not because of their faction."  
Star Saber fell silent and eventually tried a new speech, but this one was thought up on the spot and lacked polish. His argument shot down, the vote ended up going 6-4 in favour of Rodimus' New Citizen Act, with Mirage voting solo to have both Rodimus' and Saber's acts thrown out. Metroplex had ended up voting in Star Saber's favour due to strong feelings against letting in Destrons & Dominators, while Grimlock voted in favour of Prime because he just wanted to piss off Saber. 

********************************************************************** 

So there it was, showing live on a special broadcast. Hundreds of Imperials, scattered around like a funny-coloured Swarm. There were the five hundred LONC's, a lot of them glaring at the one hundred Destrons who'd all congealed at the other side of the room. Separating the two, you had ten Star Formers, two hundred Cyberformers, 170 Dominators, a handful of Junkions and the rest were just a scattering of Imperial vagrants, completely factionless. 

It was really odd that the Decepticons didn't attack, but Siren told me later that a few Legion battle-cruisers were hanging over Xerxes during the event. And y'know, Saber could've gotten them to fire right then and ended the war. Guess he was in a sulk, poor baby. 

The first line of the newcomers walked forward to get their Autobrand, one from each faction, and at that point Maccadam turned it off and played Sharkticon wrestling videos instead. Dreadwind and Darkwing gave a big whoop in the corner- aside from me and Fastform, they were the only ones here. Ah well, wasn't that interested in the ceremony anyway. Lotta glitz and pomp- meaningless. I'll be meeting the new Autobots soon in person, so why bother with a bad visual? 

I poked Fastform's recently-welded chest. "That's coming out of your wages."  
"You don't pay me."  
"Meh."  
The kid fiddled with his drink for a bit, then started to ask about Gunrunner. I waved him off. Like I want to think about that horror any longer than I had to. Like I want to remember the sound it made when the bullet went through his head, and the way my hands shook afterwards. Like I want to think about Motormouth and his own little brand of evil. 

Best to keep my mind of these things. So I turn to the Dreadwing duo and call out. 

"How the hell do you to keep getting in here when it's inside Autobot territory?"  
"We dug a tunnel leading into the kitchen a few years ago. We don't tell the other 'Cons, or they'd all wanna use it."  
The kid stared at his drink for a bit, then looked back up at me. "How long do you think things are going to stay like this?"  
"Hmmm?"  
"We're still reeling from the Eugen wars! Everywhere you look, they're there- gun wounds and craters and scared, haunted Autobots! And this war! Our population is nearly all gone and we're still fighting, still going at it even though we should be in no shape to. And now all these Imperials are coming in, we have a Liege Centuro in High Command and… when are these slag times just going to end?"  
It was a good question. 

"Soon kid. Nowhere to go but up, really."  
Yeah, I lied. But what else could I say? 

  
  
THE END


End file.
